Modern conventional computer networks transport an ever increasing volume of data between interconnected computers. Bandwidth-hungry user applications continually burden such computer networks, such as a collection of interconnections known as the Internet and many other subnetworks such as intranets, extranets, and LANs, with demands for additional throughput volume to allow the conventional networks to transport additional data.
The conventional interconnections in such networks include a variety of wired and wireless transport mechanisms such as cellular, Global System Mobile (GSM), satellite, optical fiber, coaxial cable, and twisted pair, to name several. The conventional transport mediums carry a broad diversity of traffic types, such as voice, data, streaming media, and signaling traffic according to many different protocols and switching mechanisms, such as TCP/IP, CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, ATM, and others as are known to those skilled in the art.
In a conventional wireless communications network, that originally evolved to support simple analog wireless voice communications, new increasing demands for services and applications such as digital voice, remote email, wireless Internet, and laptop computer support have imposed additional bandwidth demands and additional message traffic formats, or protocols, to support the user demand for these new features. The so-called first generation (1G) analog voice cellular network infrastructure has evolved to support second generation (2G) voice and data, and is rapidly moving in the direction of widespread third generation (3G) deployment, including support for digital voice, enhanced data services and signaling support.
The increasing wireless demand and corresponding deployment of additional conventional wireless transceivers drives a need to provide sufficient wired links to the transceivers. In a conventional wireless communications network, field deployment of base transceiver stations (BTSs) at a conventional “cell site” support wireless links to a plurality of wireless subscribers (end-users) that operate wireless phones and other mobile communications equipment. Dense deployment of conventional BTSs and other equipment operable to support end-user wireless connections strives to allow uninterrupted, high-bandwidth support to the wireless subscribers. Typically, however, multiple BTSs couple to a conventional mobile switching office (MSO) via a conventional wired or “land line” that in turn provide a data communications link for interconnection into a public access network such as a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or a computer network such as the Internet. Deployment of additional cell sites to support to increasing numbers of subscribers and additional BTSs requires sufficient high speed trunk lines between the cell sites and the MSO to support the increasing number of conventional end-user wireless connections.